February 15, 2013 - The personal secretary of Pope Benedict XVI will accompany the
retired Pontiff to the papal summer residence of Castelgandolfo, outside Rome, and
will follow him later to his residence in the Vatican gardens. This was one of the
highlights of the press briefing by papal spokesman Fr. Federico Lombardi on Thursday.
The Jesuit priest told reporters that Pope’s personal secretary, Archbishop Georg
Ganswein, is also expected to continue in his recent appointment as Prefect of the
Papal Household when Pope Benedict’s successor is elected. The 56-year-old archbishop,
the Pope’s personal secretary since 2003, even before his papapcy,, will live with
Benedict in a converted monastery in the Vatican gardens, and will also go to work
every day in the Apostolic Palace as Prefect of the Papal Household. Asked about
whether the dual role of Archbishop Ganswein will influence the new papacy and the
governance of the Church, Fr. Lombardi ruled out such fear saying the job of prefect
is very technical, organizing the Pope's audiences, and has no real governmental or
doctrinal role to it. Another news development of Fr. Lombardi’s briefing was the
confirmation of reports that Pope Benedict XVI suffered a minor head injury during
his trip to Mexico. Fr. Lombardi denied, however, that the incident was a factor
in the Pope’s decision to resign. “I can affirm,” he said, “that [the injury] was
not relevant for the trip [to Mexico] – indeed, it did not affect the calendar in
any way,” nor was it relevant, “in the decision [to renounce the Papal office] as
such.”